Ribbon spool



Oct. 11, 1955 A. E. RocKwooD RIBBON SPOOL Filed July 14, 1955 IN VEN TOR.

ALBERT E. ROCKWOOD.

ATTN.

rates ice RIBBON SPUL Albert E. Rockwood, Gardner, Mass., assigner tn Simplex Time Recorder Co., Gardner, Mass., a corporation nf Massachusetts Application .Iuly 14, 1953, Serial No. 367,882

1 Claim. (Cl. 242-74) This invention relates to a ribbon spool particularly designed for use with the ribbon shift mechanism shown in my copending application Serial No. 370,899, liled July 14, 1953.

lt is the general object of this invention to provide a ribbon spool with a body portion or barrel which has one or more transverse slots or openings into which a control arm or detector may drop when unsupported by a ribbon.

When using this improved spool, the control arm or detector rests lightly on the ribbon and is movable by gravity or by very light spring pressure to indicate ribbon reversal when the slot is uncovered by substantial ribbon reversal when the slot is uncovered by substantial ribbon exhaustion. No mechanical work whatever is performed by the ribbon beyond supporting the very light downward pressure of the detector.

My invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a front elevation of my improved spool;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation, taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. l; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse sectional views illustrating the intended use of the spool.

Referring to the drawings, my improved spool comprises a hollow cylindrical body portion 10, preferably formed of sheet steel, and having one edge portion turned inward as indicated at 11 and reversely folded as shown at l2. When the spool is in use, one end of the ribbon R is firmly gripped between the portions 11 and 12 of the spool.

A longitudinal slot or opening 14 is provided adjacent the in-turned portion 11, and through this opening the ribbon can be brought out and wound around the spool. The end portions of the reversely-folded part 12 are slightly extended as indicated at 16 to provide winding lugs for the spool.

The construction as thus far described is or may be as shown in my prior Patent No. 2,339,652, issued January 18, 1944.

Transverse slots 20 are provided in the spools S and adjacent each end of each spool, and each slot extends through slightly more than one-half of the periphery of the spool. The utility of these slots is indicated in Figs. 3 and 4.

In Fig. 3, the end of a detector D is shown as resting on the outer surface of a ribbon R wound on the spool S. When in this position, the detector D is inoperative to reverse the ribbon feed. When the ribbon on the spool is substantially exhausted, as shown in Fig. 4, the slots 20 are uncovered and the detector D will drop into one of the slots 20. At the same time an. associated part of the detector will move into reversa1-indicating position. The reversing mechanism is thereupon operated by mechanically actuated elements, but the ribbon itself performs no mechanical function. Enough ribbon remains on the spool to last during reversal.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claim, but what I claim is:

In a one-piece ribbon spool comprising a simple cylinder of relatively-thin sheet metal having a longitudinal slot to admit the end of a ribbon and having means wholly within said cylinder to permanently grip said ribbon end, that improvement which comprises the provision of an open and unobstructed transverse slot in said thin cylinder which extends around substantially onehalf of the periphery of said cylinder and which terminates at each end a substantial distance from said longitudinal slot and which is entirely uncovered as a ribbon is unwound from the spool and substantially before the longitudinal slot is uncovered.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 960,795 Bircher .Tune 7, 1910 2,339,652 Rockwood Jan. 18, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS 501,543 Germany July 3, 1930 

